The first game in the Masters was at 3 p.m. the same day as Round 2 of the Challengers A.While all the Challengers and Amateur games were played upstairs in the room you saw in the Challengers Round 2 post; the Master’s boards were spread over two floors. Boards 1 – 75 were played in the well-lit upstairs room, whereas boards 76 to the end (approx 130) were played a couple of floors below street level in an area that is normally a restaurant (from what I gathered). The lighting here was objectively hit or miss, but it did not affect me. Fellow Canadian, FM Michael Dougherty who had played in Gibraltar at least once before, dubbed this floor, “the Dungeon”, and the objective was to escape and play upstairs

My opponent for round 1 was Spanish IM David Martinez (2407)

A nice touch by the organizers was the name card pre-placed at your board for every game, including the Challengers and Amateur.

About the game. I played a dubious positional idea in the opening. David spent a lot of time deciding how to exploit my weaknesses, and with surgical position executed. I resigned on move 21.

In the men’s section the tournament is more closely contested. After the first ten rounds Chinese star Ding Liren and Pentala Harikrishna from India are sharing the lead with 7,5/10 points each. Russian champion Evgeny Tomashevsky is third with 6,5 points.

The final rounds of the tournament were no less thrilling than the rest, with a new leader taking over: Ju Wenjun, and taking gold. It was a fitting result as she was also the only undefeated player. In second was the Cinderalla story wth Iranian IM Sarasadat “Sara” Khademalsharieh, the lowest rated by far, who took a fantastic silver. A large illustrated report.

In 2016 IMSA Elite Minds Games, Chess players have started 3min+2sec/move blitz game competition at Huai’an, Jiangsu Province, China. Chinese top seed player Ding Liren, who’s been pretty quite when playing rapid games, made some noise in today’s games and currently taking the lead with 7.5/10 scores overall. India famous player Harikrishna, even though did lose to Ding Liren in round 4, behaved pretty good afterwards and scored 7.5/10 as well and currently on second place.

Russia player Tomashevsky scored 6.5/10 at third place, followed by Sargissian Gabriel, Mamedov Rauf and Wang Hao. Since the blitz games would been playing for 30 rounds with double round-robin, it is uneasy to predict the final victorious player at now.

Comparing to male’s player’s fierce competition, the female player seemingly relying more on ‘momentum’. On day-1 of the blitz game competition, Russia female player Gunina Valentina made an absolutely unbelievable record: winning ten games in a row and scored 10/10 full marks! Even though she did on some sorts of the tough position during the games, she handled the difficulty perfectly and won the games ultimately. Russia Player Lagno scored 7.0/10 and on second position currently, followed by Antoaneta Stefanova who scored 6.5/10 overall. Gunina Valentina undoubtedly was the super star for today, and many spectators would like to see if she could continue her super hot-streak in the following day.

Blitz Women

Ranking Crosstable after Round 10

Rank

SNo.

Name

Rtg

FED

Pts.

Res.

SB

Vict

1

13

GM

Gunina Valentina

2598

RUS

10

0

45.50

10

2

7

GM

Lagno Kateryna

2594

RUS

7

0

33.00

6

3

1

GM

Stefanova Antoaneta

2518

BUL

6?

0

27.25

5

4

6

IM

Paehtz Elisabeth

2483

GER

6

0

24.50

5

5

8

WGM

Tan Zhongyi

2524

CHN

6

0

23.00

4

6

16

GM

Ju Wenjun

2535

CHN

5?

0

18.75

5

7

14

GM

Dzagnidze Nana

2581

GEO

5

0

22.50

4

8

15

GM

Khotenashvili Bela

2430

GEO

5

0

19.50

4

9

3

GM

Krush Irina

2400

USA

5

0

24.00

5

10

12

GM

Harika Dronavalli

2554

IND

4?

0

19.25

3

11

10

GM

Ushenina Anna

2472

UKR

4

0

16.00

4

12

4

GM

Kosteniuk Alexandra

2485

RUS

3?

1

16.75

2

13

5

GM

Zhao Xue

2552

CHN

3?

0

15.50

3

14

9

IM

Mkrtchian Lilit

2405

ARM

3

1

10.50

2

15

2

GM

Socko Monika

2375

POL

3

0

17.00

2

16

11

WGM

Huang Qian

2455

CHN

2?

0

13.50

1

IMSA Elite Mind Games 2016: Rapid Winners

Mamedyarov and Tan Zhongyi took the gold medal

In IMSA Elite Mind Games Chess Rapid game Day-2, two champions have been crowned. In women’s section, Tan Zhongyi continued her hot-streak and beat German player Paehtz in round 5 and scored astonishing five victories in a row. Even though she lost to Lagno in the round 6 playing black, Tan Zhongyi still held a solid half-point advantage. As a veteran player, she quickly adjusted her mood, and conquered former world champion, Ukrainian player Anna Ushenina in final round, won the trophy with 6/7 overall score. When all games finished, Tan Zhongyi expressed her excitement, claiming that’s literally the first time for her to participate in the IMSA elite mind games and very excited to take the first gold medal. Bela Khotenashvili took the second place, while Ju Wenjun took the bronze medal with similar 4.5/7 points.

Final ranking Rapid Women

Rank

SNo.

Name

Rtg

FED

Pts.

Res.

ratP

Rtg?

1

4

WGM

Tan Zhongyi

2450

CHN

6

0

2807

2498

2

14

GM

Khotenashvili Bela

2444

GEO

4?

1?

2609

2507

3

3

GM

Ju Wenjun

2532

CHN

4?

1?

2594

2492

4

6

GM

Lagno Kateryna

2593

RUS

4?

0

2592

2490

5

15

GM

Stefanova Antoaneta

2563

BUL

4

0

2569

2519

6

7

GM

Krush Irina

2444

USA

3?

0

2552

2487

7

1

GM

Dzagnidze Nana

2560

GEO

3?

0

2503

2503

8

2

IM

Paehtz Elisabeth

2482

GER

3?

0

2485

2485

9

5

GM

Zhao Xue

2506

CHN

3?

0

2479

2479

10

9

GM

Ushenina Anna

2502

UKR

3?

0

2477

2477

11

12

WGM

Huang Qian

2443

CHN

3

1

2454

2504

12

16

GM

Kosteniuk Alexandra

2543

RUS

3

0

2420

2470

13

13

GM

Gunina Valentina

2464

RUS

2?

0

2403

2505

14

8

GM

Harika Dronavalli

2478

IND

2?

0

2383

2485

15

11

GM

Socko Monika

2441

POL

2?

0

2329

2511

16

10

IM

Mkrtchian Lilit

2459

ARM

1?

0

2260

2490

In men’s group, the battle had been more fierce. After a tense battle of another three rounds today, Mamedyarov and Ponomariov both scored 5/7 which a tie-break is inevitable. A sudden-death match had to be played. The chief arbiter made a draw-lot for those two players, Mamedyarov won and decided to take the white with 5 minutes on clock against his opponent’s 4 minutes, but in such a Armageddon game, a draw game would counted as black won. A relentless fight between two elite players and a breath-taking game was played. As a result, Mamedyarov won the game to become champion, Ponomariov took the second place, while Dominguez Perez took the bronze medal with 4.5/7.

2016 IMSA Elite Mind Game has just kicked off today at Huai’an, Jiangsu Province, China. For the rapid 25 min +10 sec/move chess competition, four rounds have been accomplished for the first day, and the men’s group battled fiercely. Dominguez, Ponomariov and Wang Hao all scored 3 points out of 4 without losing one single game, climbing to the top of the leader-board. Meanwhile, Ding Liren, Mamedyarov, Wojtaszek all scored 2.5 points out of 4 to stay behind.

For Women’s group, famous Chinese player Tan Zhongyi had super hot-streak and a spectacular performance helped her scored full marks, perfect triumph beating Huang Qian and Gunina playing white, as well as conquering Khotenashvil and Dzagnidze playing black. In those four game, Tan Zhongyi showed excellent skill and played undoubtedly her A-game, dominating the position from start to the end and gave her opponents absolutely no chance. The German player Paehtz scored 3.0/4 to stay at the second position, meanwhile Khotenashvili, Dzagnidze, Lagno all scored 2.5 /4.

By then, there will be 143 players and 77 technical officers from 43 countries, participate in varieties of board games including Bridge, GO, Chess, Chinese Chess and Draughts.

Totally, there would be 23 individual events which divided into five categories.

Furthermore, there would be another well-expected solitaire game called “Guan dan”, originated from Huai’an province as history records, open to international game media for the first time for exhibit purpose.

Like the saying goes, “Wisdom of the world, Gathering in Huai’an”, we are ready for 2016 IMSA Elite Mind Games, are looking forward to see a marvelous opening-ceremony and spectacular game competition of all world-class elite players out here!

The open tournament in Cappelle la Grande in France has a long and vibrant tradition. Its 32nd edition attracted 538 players, among them strong grandmasters such as Kevin Spraggett or Artur Jussupow. With a rating of 2667 US-Grandmaster Gata Kamsky was top seed and did not disappoint: With 7.5/9 he became sole and convincing tournament winner.

One of the most beautiful Swiss cities Lugano is going to host the jubilee edition of the New-OPEN di Lugano from 25-28 March 2016 at Hotel Pestalozzi, which is located in the center of the town, overlooking the bay.

It will be separated into Open A (open to all, regardless of their rating) and Open B (open to all players rated below 2050 Elo) and it will be played in a 6-round Swiss format with a time control of 90 min.+ 30 sec./move for 40 moves, then 15 min.+ 30 sec./move till the end of the game. Both events will be valid for FIDE rating.

A total prize fund in the amount of CHF 8,300 max., CHF 5,700 min. will be granted at this year’s edition of the tournament and it will be accompanied by many pleasant surprises and simultaneous exhibitions.

A total of no less than eight internationally renowned grandmasters has already subscribed for the tournament. Top seed is Hungarian player GM Gergely Antal, followed by one of the best Bulgarian players GM Boris Chatalbashev and Serbian GM Mihajlo Stojanovic.

More about Lugano:
Lugano is considered as a part of “Mediterranean Switzerland” due to its mild climate and its location on the bay of the lake Lugano. The city also offers wonderful landscape composed of the Alps and the quiet lake and is at the same time third financial city after Zurich and Geneva. With a population of 55,000 Lugano is easy to reach – Milan airports are at a distance of about 90 km, Bergamo (with many low-cost flights) – 120 km. Lugano also has its own airport – for domestic flights.

Three chess legends will add to the elite list of players inducted into the World Chess Hall of Fame. On April 13, GM David Bronstein, Howard Staunton, and WIM Sonja Graf-Stevenson will join the 24 others already enshrined since the honorofic…

5 rounds – March 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, – (This is not a knockout tournament, players will play all 5 rounds) (Players may take up to 1 half-point and any number of zero-point byes. Half-point byes for round 5 must be requested before Round 2.

Please note that we intend to start the first round at 7:00 p.m. sharp. There is one game per week.Contact for byes, etc. TD: Tony Boron 204-798-nine-four-six-four

All of the TNTs are Swiss (pairing) style tournaments with a time control of G /110 minutes [Each player has 1 hour 50 minutes to complete their moves, the game will be be approx. 3 hours and 40 minutes maximum]. We will also be using FIDE Rule Appendix G.4 for situations with players having under 2 minutes remaining.

$ 20 entry fee and CFC membership required.

All players must be CFC members (can be obtained during registration on-site)

[$ 20 for a one-tournament adult membership or $ 49 for 12 months- new adult members pay only $ 36 for a twelve-month CFC membership, or $ 16 for a one-tournament membership]

Junior (under 20) members pay $ 10 for a one-tournament membership, $ 34 for a twelve-month CFC membership, new junior members pay only $ 24 for a twelve month CFC membership, or $ 8 for a one-tournament membership]

Registration for tournament -Tuesday, March 1 – approximately 6:35 pm to 6:50 pm

Registration will be cut off at 6:50 pm. (If you think you may be late, please send an email to chessmanitoba ‘at’ gmail.com) before 5 pm (you can try later, but the wireless access at the U may be problematic) . Players can join in Round 2, they will receive a half-point bye for Round 1. Additional bye information will be added.

Location: University of Winnipeg – Rm 4CM42

Easiest way to get there is to take the elevator at the north end (Ellice) to the 5th Floor(if that Elevator is operating) Otherwise, there is an elevator just to the west of the old Bookstore location. Our goal is to start the first round at 7:00 p.m. sharp.

Cell phone rules:In all FIDE-rated events all players shall be asked to turn off their phones and place them on the table in advance of the game and throughout play. Any use of cell phone during a game without TD permission will result in forfeiture of the game. Players needing special consideration shall consult with TD.

England’s national chess league, the 4NCL, is heading towards a seasonal showdown at its final weekend in May when the Midlands team Cheddleton will try to dethrone Guildford, who have dominated for the past three seasons. Both have won all their six matches so far, but Guildford are well ahead on game points, 41.5 to 33.5. It will be a tough assignment for Cheddleton, even though they are led by the England No2, David Howell, and the reigning British chess champion, Jonathan Hawkins. Guildford can counter them with three of England’s Olympiad team plus their dependable French and Dutch grandmasters on the middle boards. Germany’s Bundesliga, the strongest in Western Europe, is also heading for a climactic finish between Solingen and Baden-Baden, who drew 4-4 and have both won their other eight matches. Baden-Baden are …